First Posted: 4/13/2015
WILKES-BARRE — Two years ago, Joe Champi decided to pick up a baseball again. He doesn’t regret the decision.
After playing for Pittston Area’s freshman team, Champi didn’t play in his sophomore or junior seasons. But after several Patriot seniors convinced him to join the team during his senior year, Champi started to thrive.
Now, the Dupont resident is beginning to fill the stat sheets for Wilkes University’s baseball team.
Through the first 26 games of the season — up to April 16 — Champi is hitting .308 with 13 RBI. But, according to coach Matt Holland, Champi’s biggest strides have come at first base.
When Champi arrived on campus in the fall, he was a very raw first baseman with a lot to learn, Holland said. Through countless drills and after-practice sessions, Champi has molded himself into a fine first baseman.
“Since he came in, he has improved tremendously,” Holland said. “He picks up on things very quickly. We worked a lot on the little things.”
Champi, a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1-2 coaches first-team All-Star last season at Pittston Area, knew the jump from high school to college would be a tough one. However, Champi has been working since this past fall to improve his defense.
One of the toughest things Champi had to overcome was the speed of the game.
“Every aspect is a lot faster, whether it be pickoffs or ground balls,” he said. “The ball is going to come a lot faster. You have to be ready for that. Working on that was definitely a big part of my practice.”
Champi credits Holland and senior first baseman Stephen Ruch, a Holy Redeemer graduate from Dallas, with his improvement at the position.
The highlight of Champi’s season thus far was his first collegiate home run – a pinch hit two-run home run in the top of the seventh against Delaware Valley on April 4 at Artillery Park in Kingston. Since then, he started to heat up.
Since the home run, Champi has eight hits in a span of six games. In that time, he’s driven in 12 runs for Wilkes and has raised his batting average from .263 to .308 on the season.
“(The home run) was definitely a big moment for me,” he said. “Up until that point, I was struggling at the plate. I was just trying to clear my head on that at-bat and all I wanted to do was break out of my slump.”
Holland credits Champi’s ability with the bat to his soft hands, indicating that Champi has some of the best hands at the plate he has ever coached. Since then, the two have been working on Champi’s lower half and his rotation at the plate.
“He’s going to be a really good hitter,” Holland said. “He’s always going to be a good hitter because of his hands.”
Coming out of Pittston Area, Champi didn’t have his sights set on baseball. He only played one year of varsity ball, but thanks to several senior Patriot players, decided to play during his senior year.
In 2014, Pittston Area had the chance to compete for a district title. The team took down Wyoming Area in the first round of the PIAA District 2 Class AAA tournament but eventually fell to top-seeded Valley View, 3-2.
Playing for Wilkes became a possibility during last season when Holland came to watch a few games, Champi said.
Now, playing for Wilkes is the best decision Champi could have made.
“I love all of the guys on the team,” Champi said. “This is a great team. If I would go back and make the decision again, I would come here. We have a real chance of competing for an MAC title. We all work real hard for that goal.”
Currently, the Colonels sit in fourth place of the Freedom Division in the Middle Atlantic Conference standings, behind only Desales, Misericordia and Manhattanville.
Champi, a son of Patricia and Joseph Champi, of Dupont, is currently studying sports and event management with hopes of staying involved in sports when he graduates, possibly as a high school or college athletic director.
After a weekend series against Fairleigh Dickinson and Manhattanville, the Colonels return to Artillery Park to host Misericordia on Monday, April 20.
